By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Attorneys this morning set a date of June 8 for the sentencing of former softball coach Todd D. Phelps, convicted last week of rape of a teenage team member.
Todd D. Phelps
Phelps, 52, did not come up from the jail for the brief hearing in Lewis County Superior Court.
The former log truck driver from Pe Ell faces as much as six years in prison after a jury found him guilty of third-degree rape and second-degree sexual misconduct.
The sentencing did not take place right away because the offense is a sex crime necessitating a “pre-trial sentencing investigation” to be conducted by the state Department of Corrections, according to Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead.
Halstead and Deputy Prosecutor Debra Eurich handled the case together. Phelps is represented by Centralia defense attorney Don Blair.
Phelps also has a case pending in Lewis County District Court related to allegedly violating a no contact order regarding the now-17-year-old-year-old girl.
•••
For background, read “Pe Ell rape trial: Guilty as charged” from Friday April 27, 2012, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
Well tomorrow is when Mr. Phelps finds out the length of his incarceration. Interesting, there is letter(s) of character reference submitted to the court on his behalf.
I wonder, will the letters mitigate the testimony regarding his behavior, which convinced a jury of his peers to vote for conviction?
Are the letter’s author (s) people that testified on his behalf in court already? If not, why did they not testify at the trial?
Perhaps Mr. Phelps sensed the PSI did not show him in a very good light,and these letter(s) are a last ditch attempt at damage control.
We shall see.
i think most women in the town have a list a mile long. However, that doesn’t mean there are not good men but I know there are silent men that need to come out of the shadows and stop covering for those bastards.
The school district won’t release the name but it was in Tuesday’s Chronicle, I believe. The guy was also a coach, he’s been in accused of multiple incidents of inappropriate behavior before, and he and his lawyer are trying to stop his personnel records from being released to the newspaper. All that says to me is that, he must have something to hide. It is starting to sound like Pe Ell is a haven for perveted old goats.
Any word on how the protection order violation hearing went today for Phelps?
Also looks like another Pe Ell school employee is trying to hide their behavior. Pe Ell Superintendent Kyle MacDonald confirmed with the Chronicle that school officials are investigating allegations related to an employee on paid administrative leave, but would not release the employee’s name.
You go Pe Ell parents keep putting pressure on your superintendent and school board to oust those creeps
thanks for the clarification TrialAttendee. i thought the door and the lead detective thing was something like you described.
I never said the two women testified to sex, only that they testified.
LOL… “Looking for trouble” I think you are meaning me and not churchsucks. I did not say that anyone went on record that Phelps attacked and violated them. I said, “There are a couple of significant facts mentioned at trial that really sink it for me but I don’t mention them outright because it involves other people’s sexual lives and they have already been embarrassed enough by that mother f-er.”
No mention of attack or violation but I wouldn’t rule that out. I am not sure if those woman were questioned directly about the sexual activity but the activity was mentioned at trial as some of the “dirty stories” the victim was told by Phelps.
I was also aware TrialAttendee of the two women you are suggesting may have similar allegations were present but did not testify.
I think “church” and “everyone has a opinion” bring to light significant information about the school board. If those persons are in a position to have Todd’s best interests more than the children he coaches how many allegations or concerns were NOT acted upon when this first started very long ago. Church is right it is like cancer eating its way through the school and community and there are once again more allegations against that middle school teacher who was the track coach. Do you want these people in charge or your children Pe Ell? Come on….. Help your kids and get them out of there… Demand a vote of no confidence if possible. Do something. Otherwise why not just paint the town red and call it hell.
Church and Justice…..Trial Attendee says you’re mistaken.
First of all I, as much as anyone, want to see Phelps burn. Unfortunately no one else came forward and testified at the trial. Several people have been rumored to have similar allegations against him (two of which ATTENDED the trial), but none actually testified. The whole lot of you seem to be grossly misinformed.
As far as the “lead detective” being related to the victim, he married her distant cousin years ago and they divorced shortly after. The victim hadn’t even met him, nor had he met her.
The victim testified from the very beginning that Todd was already in the house when she got there, and that HE told HER he pushed (or manipulated) the sliding glass door to get in, and that it was a known family secret. He could very well have been lying to her, when he said this. She did not witness how he entered, and never once stated that she did.
@ looking for trouble
“Also I am super curious why the convicted waived his right to a speedy trial.”
He waived his right to speedy trial because HE was the one who was continuously asking for continuances. He was trying to find someone to lie for him in court (Bozo, begging Mr. Malmberg with his crying daughter, etc.) and couldn’t, aside from his poor daughter, wife, and mother.
What kind of manipulative scum bag asks his 70 year old mother, his WIFE, and his daughter to lie for him on the stand and then DECLINES to testify?
Todd Phelps, convicted rapist.
If you Todd supporters even heard the victims story for yourself you would know as well as any reasonable person that he is guilty on all counts, beyond ANY reasonable doubt.
I can top that….The pastor at NH was the Chairman of the School Board before Allen Phelps!!
Me….if I need a jury it will be Neanderthals from an eastern WA county. 🙂
Church, you are a fucking pointless idiot. NO, there was no one on record that testified that Phelps had attacked / violated them in the trial transcripts. So where the fuck is this libel coming from? Why would we take posts here as fact: they are a bit dilluted by some emotion at times.
Who cares what the hell position his brother holds. What the fuck does that have to do with anything.
If there are victims, everyone here would surely support them making a statement somewhere to someone about those issues, especially with June 8 approaching.
How the fuck do you type with your head so far inserted into your ass.
Dumb Fuck PAY ATTENTION
others have also said that there is a statute of limitations on sex crimes so it could be pointless for most previous victims to come forward. Im not going to responding to you anymore either. you are a lazy pain in the ass.
what’s wrong with you hearme. justice said it came out at trial and they both testified for christs sake.
wow.. Todd’s brother Allen Phelps is the chairman for the Pe Ell school board. Priceless.. absolutely priceless. It’s cancer.
Justice, I didn’t read anywhere about two women that testified about sexual encounters with Phelps. And if there are more, they should come forward.
Hearme – don’t forget that should anything ever happen to you and you need to defend yourself that those same “ill-educated Neanderthals” will be your jury too.
I don’t know if the lead detective was formally related to the victim as suggested on this site. However, if he was at one time I am not sure what the point would be or how long ago it was.
Are there any accusations of mishandling evidence? If anything I would have been pissed as the victim’s family that there wasn’t a warrant to seize search his home and seize Phelp’s and his family’s electronic equipment after they received confirmation that the emails came from Phelps’ IP address. But then again maybe they tried and it was denied. Maybe they wanted to but because they knew someone at the church (according to the rumor) tipped off Todd and the family they figured the computer would be wiped clean and the devices replaced and destroyed. And ironically his phone was replaced by the wife. This is Lewis County and it could have to been denied by a judge. Also they would have to send the computer to the FBI to be analyzed and maybe the department didn’t want to pay the expense or believe they didn’t need to. Evidently they didn’t need to because he is now convicted.
I also don’t know if they pulled out the carpet in the bedroom and the results of the tests for DNA or blood. Contrary to what others say on this site I have read you can put elements or chemicals on surfaces that mess-up or give false results for whether blood was present or if DNA is present when luminal is used.
About the sliding glass door- I know nothing about that but I have to be suspicious of anything the defense has used as a “red flag” so to speak because they said the same thing about the mother, wife and daughters testimony they believed proved the victim was inconstant. Witnesses corroborated those family members were either confused, misinformed or lied. I still cannot get over that the defense lawyer put them on the stand knowing that they didn’t know about the emails in September and there were witnesses that the daughter disclosed she was upset about the kiss. Bad bad bad moves.
And who knows why the detectives couldn’t get the sliding door off of the track. Maybe there is a trick that Phelps knew and they didn’t. Maybe he was waiting there for her outside but had told her he got in that way and she didn’t witness him taking it off the track but he really had a secret key no one knows about. The possibilities are endless. That to me is no great ah ha moment.
At one point someone on here said her testimony was too perfect and then others say it was too inconsistent. You can’t win with these guys. I know what I know because of reading the paper, the sirens (which if you look at some of the entries on other posts they were from those who attended the trial), and I have a few connections with folks who knew those who attended the trial that corroborated some of the folks that have posted details and they are consistent. There are a couple of significant facts mentioned at trial that really sink it for me but I don’t mention them outright because it involves other people’s sexual lives and they have already been embarrassed enough by that mother f-er. But it is clearly evident that Phelps has significant issues involving sex, manipulating girls and women. The town knows it and those who don’t will know soon enough because this is an instance where gossip is a very very good thing. It will expose how easily it is to get away with this type of thing and girls between the ages of 14-18 are ripe for the picking for guys like these. There needs to be education at every level in the school, church, sports, and home on how children report, teens report, and teachers report so the number of victims can be drastically reduced.
You are totally right of why he didn’t jump on a plea of some sort but that’s how these guys operate. They get pretty arrogant and take pride and get a thrill thinking they can outsmart everyone. It’s what always brings them down in the end.
Um…me, those were two seperate points not necessarily related.
Hearme – don’t forget that should anything ever happen to you and you need to defend yourself that those same “ill-educated Neanderthals” will be your jury too. And just what do all those “ill-educated Neanderthals” have to do with the lead detective?
There was a large backdraft of shit from the crowd, but 2 issues were skated by that are sort of interesting. Was the lead detective related to the victim? Or have some familial bias with her?
Was there multiple recollections of how the duo entered the scene of the crime? Slider door break in? front door with a key?
If there are more victims as implied here, are they coming forward now that the “cat is out of the bag”? There is safety in numbers right?
Also I am super curious why the convicted waived his right to a speedy trial. One would summize, if he was guilty and the system handed him a get out of jail card free (literally), why for shit sake would he not jump on that. If you refuse to waive, it gets thrown out, period. Anyone got any thoughts there?
I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for an apology at the sentencing hearing. Why admit guilt when it’s all those OTHER people who are lying?
@ Hearme roar, you ARE defending the convicted (he is no longer a defendant, since he was convicted). You keep bringing up how the jury didn’t do their job (care to explain this one?). You keep talking about all the “red flags” that they should have seen (again, care to elaborate?). Do you know some shred of “truth” that should have been brought out at the trial, some “truth” that you are holding out on disclosing until the appeals?
I know I have said it once before, but I’ll say it again, and hope that you understand… The jury DID do their job. They weighed ALL points as presented by BOTH sides. They took into consideration EVERYTHING said by parties and attorneys for both the accused and the accuser. They weighed the merits of the testimony as presented to them, again, by both sides. And they came to the conclusion that the accused was guilty of all charges. They did their job.
But you STILL won’t give us those “red flags” the jury should have seen. You STILL won’t say what the convicted did wrong, and you STILL say that he did not rape this young girl. Either tell us, or go to the authorities with the information you have.
Or you can get used to putting money in his commissary account. He’ll need it to pay off Bubba and friends so he wont get…. well, you know.
Here me Scream(roar)….ALIBI… When Todd’s first alibi didn’t pan out, IE his buddy and him at the shooting bench, when in fact the shooting bench as a keypad access that tracks the entrants by membership assigned numbers that showed his buddy DID NOT access the shooting bench the day alledged.’
Then the Defense attorney and Todd met up with the “neighbor “on the sidewalk who testified at trial that he DID NOT see Todd at the shooting bench after attorney repeatedly tried to jog his memory and try to put words into his mouth. And many in the community have also stated they have not seen Todd at the shooting bench ever.
The here comes the kicker, when you can’t get your attorney to convince the neighbor, let’s use the crying daughter trick. Yes Todd marched his crying daughter to the same neighbor that testified, and demanded that the neighbor SAW him at the shooting range.
Now how pathetic is that. He used his own daughter to save his ass. She testified on his behalf and to a alibi.
He truly is a manipulative SOB…He deserves every minute, hour, day and year the judge gives him, but he will never, I hope be able to use his daughter in this way again.
we are all talking hearme roar. we are not interested in any more of the distracting side shows. his stories disclosed at trial are getting out and we are all learning how many more of us there are. as we all talk we learn there are more and more and more.
we have no reason to lie to each other and the truth is setting us free. it wasn’t us it was him and them. the whole lot of them. they’re cancer.
Many, if not all inmates if faced with the choice of sitting idly in their cell all day or working either outside the facility or inside as a trustee, will choose to work because time goes by much faster.
That is one downside to being locked up on a legitimate sex offense.The inmate cannot work outside the facility, although I think they can still serve as a trustee in KP detail or in the laundry room inside.
Why are some people still harping on the details of the trial? The verdict was reached and that’s that. Although I will say sentencing will be interesting, will he choose to address the court? Most attorneys council clients to apologize and show remorse in hopes of getting a lighter sentence. If he holds he committed no trespass on the girl, he has nothing to apologize for. If he does offer an apology, and after a month of incarceration I’m betting he will, it seems he is admitting he had in fact committed a violation against her. And perhaps the veil that clouded some peoples view of him was not as stated last winter by Justwait24 cast by the teenage girl, but by himself.
And to still revisit that poster once more, who is following whom to the depths of Hell ,in order to keep an unwavering belief alive?
I’m not defending the defendant, I’m pointing out some absurdities that should have raised red flags with the jury had they done their job properly. My God its not personal for me, its the integrity of the judicial process!
Well said George!
Give it up hearme roar……
George your comment to hearme roar… could not have said it better!!!!!!!!!
@ Pete’s Bench…
“That’s just arguing semantics.” (your words)
You say “poe-tay-toe”, I’ll say “poe-tah-toe”…. it doesn’t matter… they are still working on repaying their debt to society, even if they are no longer chained together.
“hearme roar”, if you have VALID and LEGITIMATE data that will absolutely exonerate your father/brother/son/husband/fellow “church” member, then you might want to spill the beans to the people who investigated this case, and also to his lawyer. I’m sure they would love to hear you roar. I’m sure the prosecutor would like to know too, since you’re withholding evidence in a serious felony case…
But you STILL haven’t said what he did wrong (you said he did some things wrong… but not rape). Do you care to tell us, or is it some secret pact you have sworn in order to protect your father/brother/son/husband/fellow “church” member?
Just remember one thing: it was a jury of his peers who heard the evidence that was presented (except for yours, since you held out), and came to the decision that he was guilty as charged. His PEERS. Do you know what “peer” means? That means his “equals”… so if they (the jury) were all nothing more than “ill-educated Neanderthals” (your words), then what would that make him?
Another thing to ponder is the fact that the jurors in this case were not just randomly selected people off the street, but they came from a pool of fellow citizens who had to pass muster with BOTH the prosecution AND the defense. Ergo, they were approved by the attorney for the accused (who is now the convicted).
They heard the evidence, weighed the merits of the arguments from both sides, and found the one side lacking. Kind of like your continued defense of this convicted rapist and child molester is lacking.
Oh oh what about the testimony of the victim on how they entered the brothers house? At first she said the defendant took the sliding door off the track to enter the house. Then it conveiently changed to “he was inside the house when I got there”. I believe the deputies testified they were unable to get the door off the track. Guess the jury missed that little tidbit.
He was tried and convicted by a jury of ill-educated Neanderthals suckered in by good prosecutor. Why has there been no mention that the lead detective in the investigaton was married to the victims relative at one time? Think his testimony was impartial? Highly doubt it.
His whole family and friends knew, know, and covers/lies for him. I have no more compassion or excuses to make to absolve them of blame. No one can have that many encounters and not suspect something is seriously wrong. There are those in his circle who know about other females encounters and still do not think he’s done anything wrong. And for the supporters in denial.. They want to think it didn’t happen by ignoring all of the signs, behaviors, and boasting that’s been going on for years and insist on being blind. Now that Todd has been convicted there are no more excuses. Only apologies will be accepted and if not….. F them all.
That’s just arguing semantics. It’s called work detail, the county have been using inmates since at least the 1980’s.
The state D.O.C. employ inmates out of various “honor farms” like Cedar Creek to do forestry work under DNR supervision.
A chain gang is when inmates are physically joined together with chains and manacles.
@ TheVoiceofReason, thank you for stating the obvious. However, the Phelps and NH camp will never see the truth for what it is, simply because they are all blinded by the monster at the head of the family. Even after all the testimony, the trial, the sentencing, they will be in denial. Shouldn’t that be taken into account for deciding punishment, considering the influence he has over their very mind-set?
@ Pete’s Bench, Yes, they use Lewis County inmates on road crews. While they might not be physically linked together, it is still called a chain gang. Cheap labour for the county, and it gives the inmates a chance to try and work off some of their debt to society.
I just said it “happened” (past tense), Pete. Paul Harvey even mentioned McCroskey regarding the chain gangs, not replacing TVs, bringing in MREs and generally making jail seem more like, well, a JAIL.
My point wasn’t that there are chain gangs locally at present (I didn’t know one way or the other), just that it hasn’t been that long since we’ve had them.
Just for clarification, the victims story “changed” one time only. And the “changes” in question were the dates of the two kissing incidents. The reason there was a discrepancy is because when she told the first detective (in September) the days she thought they might have happened she was just making an educated guess during a very emotional moment. She was merely a few days off. There was nothing that changed that was pertinent or important what so ever.
Hearme roar, what exactly happened to you April 2nd and 6th of last year?
Not only that but some people are nit picking the dates she testified to in court… Have any of you heard Blair cross examine? His whole goal is to trip you up on dates… he asks the same question 6 different times, giving you 6 different time frames and expects you to answer yes or no… She testified for almost 14 hours, it is completely reasonable that insignificant dates were mixed up. That could, and inevitably WOULD happen to anyone. Especially a 16 year old girl who was on summer vacation.
And for any of you that doubt that this happened go read the transcripts.
It is so beyond a reasonable doubt. He had no alibi. None. No one could testify that they were with him any of the dates. His wife, and daughter, and sister in law actually all testified that they were in fact absent every single time. The text records match up perfectly, every single date. All his witnesses either lied, or were lied to. And to top it all off he declined to testify. If he was innocent don’t you think he would be DYING for a chance to get up on that stand and clear his name? That sure would be the first thing on my To Do list if I were an innocent man being accused of a sex crime.
It happened. Todd Phelps raped a 16 year old girl, as decided by a jury of 12 of his peers. You people need to put your big girl/boy panties on and face the facts. This person you thought you knew is a manipulative sociopath and now a convicted rapist. It sucks. It sucks for everyone involved and my heart goes out to his family and everyone that thought they knew him… but you can’t change the past. What’s done is done. Stop attacking a rape victim because you’re hurting or mad about what Todd did.
@ GuiltyBystander
That story is 15 years old! Do they actually today in 2012 use Lewis County jail work details that are fastened together while working?
I have on occasion seen inmates from the county jail doing work in public and none of them are fastened together.
It would seem rather archaic,sense I would imagine they are each outfitted with some kind of g.p.s. type ankle bracelet now days.
That’s the screwing you get for the screwing you got! Ahh, sex crimes…the gift that keeps on giving.
AP survivor
Seriously Justice, how could be that the defendant, his whole family, and anyone who supports him be unable to reason? That doesn’t even make sense.
One pattern brought out at trial was Phelps likes to kiss and tell to exert influence while grooming his victims
We are starting to talk to one another and step out of the shadows of shame
Hearme roar is obviously a close relative of Todd s. She cannot accept that he would rape this girl. No girl would go to such lengths to have a grown man convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. If you have ever been the victim of rape you would know how difficult it is to talk about with anyone. At 15 I was raped by a 32 year old and never said a word. I wish I had but I was afraid of people not believing me and getting on a witness stand to talk about it in front of everyone. It is sad that so many females are attacking this girl for talking. How would they feel if it was their daughter?He was found guilty for a reason.
George basically nails it: Todd Phelps was tried and convicted by a jury of his peers, and what any of us thinks is secondary to the reality that (barring an appeal) he’s going to jail.
And, Vicki, here’s a link to a 1997 Seattle Times story about McCroskey instituting his chain gang in Lewis County:
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19970816&slug=2555057
It happened.